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Totally by accident, I attended a major Physics conference (in preparation for the CERN LHC/Large Hadron Collider coming online next year, very exciting!) & did some tests with New Mediums : video-podcast, Sony PSP, LiveWebCast over a mobile-blog. This was done with the approval of the Program Chair, who's a young UC Irvine physics professor who understands the value of Technology.

Through a major Physics blog, a USC physics prof (string theorist) mentioned the SUSY '06 conference (4th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions). I contacted the Program Chair, & he invited me down to do some "New Medium" tests:

http://www.jumplive.com/susy06/index.html

[ incidentally, that USC prof had a meeting last year with other profs to discuss the new "blogging technologies". There is the USC Annenberg Center, which addresses technology & communication. So, USC is "with it" ]

I recorded lectures, plenary-sessions on HD (high definition) video & other video devices (digital cameras w/video capability). I put them up on a video-blog (& its corresponding video-podcast over iTunes Music Store, just do a search on "SUSY")

http://susy06.blogspot.com/

Some of these videos are really LONG, like 240mb. I also delivered them over a Sony PSP (another big-market portable video-player, 12 million out there). Some of the videos were delivered on site, within 15 minutes of taping..near-live as iTunes video-clips. There are some QTVR panoramas of some conference events. There was a LIVE delivery of pics/videos at a Textamerica.com mobile-blog:

http://susy06.textamerica.com/

[ there are some video interviews, & some hi-res pics of talk presenters ]

There were 2 Nobel Laureates in attendance (Burton Richter/Stanford & F. Wilczek/MIT), & many big names from the world of theoretical/experimental particle-physics. Some of them were on that NOVA episode on String Theory (Brian Greene/Columbia host). Being an Elec Eng PhD, it was exciting to experience a technical conference in another field. I was given recognition at the conference, & links from their website here

[ I am currently looking for a business-entity to take my "Proof of Concept", & deliver this to next year's SUSY '07 Conference in Karlsruhe/Germany. And, to ALL technical engineering/science conferences. Please contact me ]

The purpose was like that of my target Market ("Offroad Racing", see http://www.jumplive.com/

"A better informed Public is more likely to appreciate/understand, & therefore publicly fund Science"

Physics (& Science in general), like Offroad Racing, suffers from an image problem. It's a niche-market, & the general public just isn't aware of their "activity/events". As the result, they both suffer from Funding issues (in racing, it's known as "Sponsorship"). Offroad Racing has been termed "Our Little Wonder in the Desert". Similary, Science could be termed "Our Little Wonder in a World of Idiots". You may recall the SSC (Superconducting Super Collider) that was cancelled in the 80's, which was a major blow to US program in particle-physics. There was NOT a public outcry, like you see now of the HST (Hubble Space Telescope) being de-commissioned. If the Public really understood/appreciated particle-physics, perhaps the SSC could have been resurrected. Science really is getting the "shaft" in USA, & I think the Slashdot crowd is concerned about this.

I realized halfway thru my project, that these lectures over video-iPod could have value as a Research Tool. The conference attendees could re-view the lectures, especially the Plenary sessions. I even talked to a Harva

Or CliffyB will eat a puppy

. . . how about an iMac and 5 iPods with docks and AC adaptors.

the good news: 9 of his friends are getting free iPods
the bad news: they all need to spend $60 dollars on accessories that should be included!

http://zenwaves.textamerica.com/

http://raffinorgangrind.textamerica.com/?r=4180027 This is an example of what you will see with a retinal exam as posted to TextAmerica raffinorgangrind. This was covered by my insurance, including the initial exam as refered by my primary care physician, then seen by my eye doctor, and further refered to a retinal specialist to determine if any further damanged to my vision had occurred. I will have six month followups, my diabetes is under control with oral meds, and I check my blood sugar every day. Think about the fact that it would be very hard to blog without my vision. Get your eyes examined by an eye care professional. George

Stop by TextAmerica.com and view the short video I created "Do You Have Insight." You can save this if you would like by selecting the DL link under the video frame. This will run as a WMV in full screen mode on any computer or laptop and can be set to Repeat for looping. http://raffinorgangrind.textamerica.com/?r=3478902 Emjoy, George

Does anyone know how exactly they scored the Grand Challenge? I was watching the leaderboard the whole day as I was coding, and one of the CMU vehicles was the first to finish as far as I can recall...furthermore, the spread BETWEEN the top three vehicles (CMU, Stanford, CMU) seemed to vary from time to time. I have my doubts as to the validity of the data since there were also a couple glitches during the race where all of a sudden a bunch of vehicles' mileage and stuff were kicked back by a good amount. -------------- I also monitored the GPS based map-tracker the entire Race. Stanley was on H1landers bumper on the upper-portion of the course (west of the 15 fwy). On the bottom part of the course (before Beer Bottle Pass), Stanley made the pass. I uploaded a few screen shots: http://darpagc.textamerica.com/ Stanley was the 1st physical finisher. I was involved with robotics/vision research as a grad student & I am also involved with OffRoad Racing (see http://www.jumplive.com./ I can say this years route seemed to be way easier..mostly just dirt roads. No whoop sections. Last year, it was in the Barstow area, where it can be pretty rough (all the top OffRoad Racing teams test there). Here's a sample of some REAL OffRoad Racing (there was "pausing" for the DARPA GC '05, if a 2nd vehicle got on the bumper of the 1st vehicle): http://web.archive.org/web/20000925132425/www.seel eyracing.com/barstow/end/vgeorgel4fps3.mov It was taken from the area known as "Mile of Danger". Could the 'bots read a "fork" in the desert? Someone (who was part of a team for awhile) claims the DARPA GC was a sham. https://dtsn.darpa.mil/grandc/forum/topic.asp?topi c_id=1657&forum_id=30&Topic_Title=What+a+scam%2C+r ace+wa+sno+challenge+at+all!&forum_title=Grand+Cha llenge+Event&M=False&S= It wasn't a race, more like a rally. I did a LiveWebCast of the SCORE Primm 300 offroad race a month ago: http://primm300.textamerica.com/ These vehicles took an a far rougher/tougher course, even the stock VW Baja Bugs: http://www.dezertrangers.com/iB_html/uploads/post- 1-87711-class11s.jpg I bet one of these bugs coulda placed high (or even won) the DARPA GC. You can see this thread for more pics of the Primm 300: http://www.dezertrangers.com/cgi-bin/ib/ikonboard. cgi?s=e3be4804ea8ddd2f033271bbc686d107;act=ST;f=1; t=27465;st=0 You can see some silty areas. Stanley woulda had a problem, the CMU Hummers probably not.

Does anyone know how exactly they scored the Grand Challenge? I was watching the leaderboard the whole day as I was coding, and one of the CMU vehicles was the first to finish as far as I can recall...furthermore, the spread BETWEEN the top three vehicles (CMU, Stanford, CMU) seemed to vary from time to time. I have my doubts as to the validity of the data since there were also a couple glitches during the race where all of a sudden a bunch of vehicles' mileage and stuff were kicked back by a good amount. -------------- I also monitored the GPS based map-tracker the entire Race. Stanley was on H1landers bumper on the upper-portion of the course (west of the 15 fwy). On the bottom part of the course (before Beer Bottle Pass), Stanley made the pass. I uploaded a few screen shots: http://darpagc.textamerica.com/ Stanley was the 1st physical finisher. I was involved with robotics/vision research as a grad student & I am also involved with OffRoad Racing (see http://www.jumplive.com./ I can say this years route seemed to be way easier..mostly just dirt roads. No whoop sections. Last year, it was in the Barstow area, where it can be pretty rough (all the top OffRoad Racing teams test there). Here's a sample of some REAL OffRoad Racing (there was "pausing" for the DARPA GC '05, if a 2nd vehicle got on the bumper of the 1st vehicle): http://web.archive.org/web/20000925132425/www.seel eyracing.com/barstow/end/vgeorgel4fps3.mov It was taken from the area known as "Mile of Danger". Could the 'bots read a "fork" in the desert? Someone (who was part of a team for awhile) claims the DARPA GC was a sham. https://dtsn.darpa.mil/grandc/forum/topic.asp?topi c_id=1657&forum_id=30&Topic_Title=What+a+scam%2C+r ace+wa+sno+challenge+at+all!&forum_title=Grand+Cha llenge+Event&M=False&S= It wasn't a race, more like a rally. I did a LiveWebCast of the SCORE Primm 300 offroad race a month ago: http://primm300.textamerica.com/ These vehicles took an a far rougher/tougher course, even the stock VW Baja Bugs: http://www.dezertrangers.com/iB_html/uploads/post- 1-87711-class11s.jpg I bet one of these bugs coulda placed high (or even won) the DARPA GC. You can see this thread for more pics of the Primm 300: http://www.dezertrangers.com/cgi-bin/ib/ikonboard. cgi?s=e3be4804ea8ddd2f033271bbc686d107;act=ST;f=1; t=27465;st=0 You can see some silty areas. Stanley woulda had a problem, the CMU Hummers probably not.

I pre-ordered from EB and got mine. I was #30 on the list and they got 40. Everywhere else here is sold out....

except Target.

I'm convinced that no one shops at Target. Click here to see my picture commentary on it. I ended up getting Ridge Racer from Target, since everywhere else is sold out. Target has all the games and a few psp's left, because NO ONE shops there.

With that said, Sony has done a horrible job of mismarketing/undermarketing. Almost none of my non-nerd friends even know what a PSP is. It's really sad. I've seen maybe one commercial total for it.

They need to pimp it as the awesome media machine it is. I love mine, and I have Ridge Racer, Wipeout Pure, and Twisted Metal: Head-On.

Playing on the actual internet from a handheld via WiFi in Twisted Metal is a truly awesome experience. Hopefully Sony will market it, but I guarantee you, this thing will be marketed by word of mouth/view of eye. The PSP is dead sexy and I guarantee you people will be asking me about it at school, since I'll be playing it before class starts and in between classes.

what next? saving images to your iPod Photo will be labeled Photocasting?

You mean like this stuff? Actually, you may be onto something- adding moblog photos to podcasting sounds like the next step.

This it?

Here.

There is an easy answer to this problem: work in the public domain, giving your work freely to everyone, and then accept voluntary donations (gifts) from those that appreciate or build on it. Ask the street corner musician who plays for everyone and lives off of the gifts from those that appreciate his work... It works. My whole website is in the Public Domain. For detailed arguments why Public Domain is the answer, see http://betterdifferent.com/copyright/ -N888 ps view daily videos from my Nokia 6600 of my adventures at Burning Man next week (Aug 30-Sep6 and every day for that matter): http://nate88.textamerica.com/

pfft, whatever, geek != cant get laid.

I program, I'm a sysadmin, I go to LAN parties, I read /. more than I should, I'm a geek, and I get laid to the point that the word "laid" sounds childish. grow up. geeks are not nerds, some of the coolest people I've met are geeks in something or another, it just means your passionate about something. replace the word geek with expert and i think you'll understand better.

oh, and my g/f is hot.

This is what he would look like if he was in a white suit...

Dont comment about the photoshop skills, this took 3 minutes.

Kevin posts pictures of the new TSS set @ G4 in LA

I had the exact same phone until I dropped it. What a shame, that phone had awesome battery life and great signal stregnth. My past 3 phones had been Sanyo candy-bar style phones and got great reception, but i missed the coolness factor of my old samsung flip-phone (not the reception tho). I decided to replace the broken 4900 with another sanyo, the SCP-8100. This phone is a color flip with camera and vision. The 4 factors for buying this phone were:

1. Vision
2. Use same date cable from 4900
3. Great sanyo reception
4. Flip (yay, I'm r33t now!)

What I didnt take into account was how much battery that thing would suck up. The camera was cool for like a week until I figured how lame the QVGA pics were, but I still post to my moblog just for the hell of it. Anyway, I have to charge this puppy every night and I only talk on it maybe an hour a day, do maybe 10 shortmails (fake SMS), and connect it to the laptop about once a week for email on the go.

What was this thread about again? Oh yeah, PDAs. Um, keeping on topic, if you have a phone and a data cable, you may want to check out bitpim. Its can access your phones calander, phone book, pictures, etc... worth checking out Jeff DeMaagd as its compatible with the 4900.

Now if only sprint would embrace the MS Smartphones, I would love to get a windows mobile phone that could sync with exchange and open word docs. Er, I mean, so I could put linux on it, sync with sendmail, and use vi. right ;)

Give me $600 for this phone.

I worked on this about a year and a half ago for my senior Computer Engineering project. It was a group of 4, and we actually made fairly good progress in a semester. The main holdup was that the guy in charge of getting the supplies took too long to order everything, so we didn't get enough construction/debugging time.

Here is the basic construction plan we had:
* Start with standard push mower
* Replace front tires with "shopping cart" style wheels that can turn as needed.
* Mount two windshield wiper (or other powerful 12v motor) on the back wheels to provide independent control and near-zero-turn radius.
* Mount car battery on for powering of above motors.
* Add bump sensors for detecting when front hits an obstacle (we built our own from surgical tubing and wire)
* Add sensors across front of mower to detect cut/uncut grass. We used a series of optical sensors mounted about 2 inches above the ground at the front of the motor.
* Wall sensor to detect when a wall (or other wall-like obstacle) is near the mower on the sides.
* Add tip sensor to determine when mower is not near-level (being turned over by small children or leprechauns)
* Program/mount FPGA to take in sensor inputs and control motors.

Our basic algorithm was to keep the far left grass sensors out of the tall grass, and keep the right sensors in the grass (varying speeds of motors turns the mower left or right). We theorized that you could edge around the area you wanted mowed, then put the mower stradling this line, turn it on, and it would circle around cutting in a spiral towards the middle. Triggering the bump sensor would cause it to reverse, and then try to follow the obstacles' edge until it found a grass edge to follow. It was getting fairly complex by the end of the semester, but worked pretty well based on our lab testes. Real world tests were not as great, but like I said earlier, we kinda ran out of time.

Here are some pics:
Top View
Side View

I worked on this about a year and a half ago for my senior Computer Engineering project. It was a group of 4, and we actually made fairly good progress in a semester. The main holdup was that the guy in charge of getting the supplies took too long to order everything, so we didn't get enough construction/debugging time.

Here is the basic construction plan we had:
* Start with standard push mower
* Replace front tires with "shopping cart" style wheels that can turn as needed.
* Mount two windshield wiper (or other powerful 12v motor) on the back wheels to provide independent control and near-zero-turn radius.
* Mount car battery on for powering of above motors.
* Add bump sensors for detecting when front hits an obstacle (we built our own from surgical tubing and wire)
* Add sensors across front of mower to detect cut/uncut grass. We used a series of optical sensors mounted about 2 inches above the ground at the front of the motor.
* Wall sensor to detect when a wall (or other wall-like obstacle) is near the mower on the sides.
* Add tip sensor to determine when mower is not near-level (being turned over by small children or leprechauns)
* Program/mount FPGA to take in sensor inputs and control motors.

Our basic algorithm was to keep the far left grass sensors out of the tall grass, and keep the right sensors in the grass (varying speeds of motors turns the mower left or right). We theorized that you could edge around the area you wanted mowed, then put the mower stradling this line, turn it on, and it would circle around cutting in a spiral towards the middle. Triggering the bump sensor would cause it to reverse, and then try to follow the obstacles' edge until it found a grass edge to follow. It was getting fairly complex by the end of the semester, but worked pretty well based on our lab testes. Real world tests were not as great, but like I said earlier, we kinda ran out of time.

Here are some pics:
Top View
Side View

This is why UF rules. In addition to because it's the place I met my wife, of course!!

There is this moblog which has much more interesting pictures of Blackout '03.

For anyone who wasn't already aware PT's awesome "roblog" is powered by http://textamerica.com

Yes, I know, everyone was very aware of this already... but with the massive traffic jump from this thread, IT talked to CEO who talked to the founder who now has the COO making changes to our "required" links system... all of this on MY "lazy" Sunday afternoon! [yawn]

He also has some kind of a inverse homer simpson beard thing going on.

And he's always serious . That's so cool.

And he's always serious . That's so cool.

johnny dep!

http://d1sc0.textamerica.com/

I guess if you're a developer "star" like Chris Anderson then sending out photos of your office is OK? I think it might have been more to do with the details of the location on campus etc, altho Don Box is prone to doing that from time to time in his blog too (check out the entry entitled "old school fun" to see what I mean).